Bilateral Meeting with His Majesty King Letsie III of the Kingdom of Lesotho

Rome - The FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, warmly welcomed His Majesty the King back to FAO Headquarters and referred to their previous meeting four months ago, appreciating the positive and ongoing collaboration with the Kingdom of Lesotho. The Director-General stated that he remained hopeful that Lesotho would make major strides in food security under the leadership of His Majesty.  

His Majesty the King expressed his gratitude for the opportunity to meet again with the Director-General to further strengthen collaboration and discuss issues of mutual interest related to eradicating poverty and ending hunger and malnutrition. His Majesty the King noted that although the purpose of his visit to Rome was to address the IFAD Governing Council later in the week, he had deemed it fit to meet with the FAO Director-General to once again express his deep gratitude for his personal support in creating an environment that had enabled him to serve FAO, Africa and the world by addressing issues related to nutrition.  

His Majesty the King further commended the Director-General's compassion, commitment and resolve in executing FAO’s mandate in support of global agrifood systems transformation. His Majesty also expressed appreciation on behalf of Lesotho for the ongoing support to the people and the country and looked forward to continued support in the future.

His Majesty the King recognized the mission undertaken recently by the FAO team to the country to kickstart the implementation process of the USD 5 million pledged for food security projects in Lesotho. His Majesty stated that Lesotho was on track and committed to ensure their effective implementation and reiterated his personal commitment to ensure that under his leadership the projects would achieve the objectives of hunger relief, malnutrition reduction and poverty alleviation. 

The Director General reaffirmed his commitment to continue to support Lesotho and its people based on the strong political will and commitment of its leadership, especially His Majesty the King, not only to Lesotho but to the Africa continent and beyond through his steadfast work as the FAO Special Goodwill Ambassador for Nutrition. The Director-General further commended His Majesty for his strong hands-on approach to achieving food security, and reiterated his ongoing commitment to continue mobilizing global support to assist His Majesty and to strengthen solidarity for agrifood systems transformation and the Four Betters.